Privacy vs. Surveillance Essay

Media, Appearance and Eating Disorders Essay -- Argumentative Persuasi

Media, Appearance and Eating Disorders  Numerous ladies are worried about their appearance. Such a large number of them are found the picture of being thin and lovely. By observing all the wonderful, flimsy ladies in the media and in the public arena, they may feel uncertain about the manner in which they look. Along these lines, they attempt to do anything they can to gain that appearance. Techniques they use to attempt to accomplish this are without anyone else starvation, known as Anorexia, or initiated regurgitating, known as Bulimia. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are just two of the dietary issues that frequently result from their unending want to be slender and delightful. Dietary issues, for example, these, likewise happen among men. In any case, it is less normal. Principles for guys essentially are not as outrageous or as unfriendly to ordinary body works just like ladies' gauges (Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley 8). It isn't only the organic perspective, however, that causes this to happen all the more regularly in ladies. Fallon, Katzman, and Wooley guarantee On even a handy level, ladies' mental self view, their social and monetary achievement and even their endurance can at present be resolved to a great extent by their excellence and by the men it permits them to pull in, while for men these depend to a great extent on how they act and what they achieve. Looks just are of auxiliary significance for male achievement. (9) Excellence and style are additionally to some extent with their craving for social acknowledgment and achievement. Ladies attempt to fulfill a preposterous weight guideline since design expects them to. Men are urged to be solid and incredible. As they work to build up their capacity in the rec center and at work, they partner flimsy with thin and feeble. Even however female models regularly look fragile, (which men despise in themselves), fema... ...school, a lion's share of the folks would pine after the dainty, pretty young ladies. The young ladies, with meat on them, would frequently be desirous of, consequently, feeling they are not dainty enough to be wonderful. Low confidence and dietary problems would then outcome from these sentiments. I, for one, don't feel that slight is excellent. Not just by your outside, however what sort of an individual you are and what you have inside, makes you lovely.   Works Cited Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc. Refreshed September 2001. http://www.anred.com. November 27, 2001. Fallon, Patricia, Melanie A. Katzman, and Susan C. Wooley, eds. Women's activist Perspectives on Eating Disorders. New York: Guilford Press, 1994. Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. Signs of Life. third release. Comp. furthermore, ed. Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2000. 481-89.

7 Time Management Tips for Academic Writers

7 Time Management Tips for Academic Writers Between a 12-credit course load and work assignments, the life of a studentâ€"whether part-time or full-timeâ€"can get stressful. But before you down that eleventh cup of coffee and spend yet another sleepless night trying to meet deadlines for academic writing assignments, here are seven time management tips for academic writers to make your semester less stressed.With the right kind of time management, your academic writing assignments can be less stressful. Photo by Kaylah Otto on Unsplash.#1. Establish a timeline and stick to itTheres really no way around itâ€"academic writing requires time and preparation. This is especially true if you are in advanced undergraduate classes or graduate school. Gone are the days when you could procrastinate on a writing assignment, stay up all night the night before the due date to get it written, then still manage a good grade on the result. Its simply impossible to pull of when advanced research is involved.When youre given an assignment that w ill be due in one month, first determine the steps that will be involved with that assignment. For most academic writing assignments, such as essays or research papers, these steps will include:A trip to the library or online research to find sourcesTime to read through the sourcesTime to take notes and cite the sources usedTime to outline the intended direction of your writing and develop a thesis statement/argument/hypothesisTime to write the rough draftFinding an editor or second pair of eyes to look over your workTime to complete the final draftTime to complete the list of references or sources in a standard formatDepending on the scope of your assignment, locating and reading through your sources could take anywhere from an hour to several weeks, so its best to get started on this part of the academic writing assignment as quickly as possible. Some professors also place parameters on the types of sources you use or the dates they were published, which can add additional time an d stress to this part of the process.If your academic writing project is a thesis or dissertation, obviously, there are many more steps involved than the basic ones listed above. However, regardless of the assignment given, its important to plan out the steps that will be involved and establish a workable timeline that you can stick with.#2. Turn off your phone and social media accounts while writing/researchingWeve all been thereâ€"that moment when youre focused on a topic of study, or in the middle of writing, and your mind begins to move toward a deeper level of analysis. You begin to think clearly, the words flow smoother, and then suddenly…ding! A Facebook notification comes in and you lose it all.How much time did it take you to get to that place of focusâ€"the place you found before the notification distracted you? Ten minutes? Maybe more? Youre now back at square one, with muddled thoughts, and a looming deadline that requires you to once again find focus.When youre in the process of researching and writing, constant interruptions can cause more delay than you realize, because its more than those few seconds of interruptions. Its the added minutes required to once again focus your thoughts on the task at hand, and often, those minutes add up to hours if enough distractions are around you. This is especially true of social media, which can end up causing you to waste time on scrolling through yet more mindless memes and cute cat photos.#3. Outline your writingWriting without outlining is like driving a train with no tracks. To achieve a cohesive, well-written essay, you need an outline that gives you a general direction to take. It will help save time in the end by ensuring that your writing moves in the right direction.The time you should spend outlining your essay is dependent on the time you have to write it. For example, if its an in-class assignment and you have an hour to write it, obviously, you shouldnt spend more than 5 to 10 minutes on the o utline. However, if you have a month to pull together an academic essay assignment, you should spend several days creating an outline that will include all of the necessary elements the essay requires (e.g., introduction, thesis statement, body, and conclusion).If your academic assignment requires an abstract, your outline will be useful in writing it. The outline should contain an introduction to the problem, your thesis statement, and the points or hypotheses you plan to make. All of these will be necessary when composing your abstract.#4. Create your citations as you goAs you read through your sources and conduct research on the topic, go ahead and make a citation for each source used in the citation format your assignment requires. This is best done on note cards, placing the quote to be used on one side (along with the page number) and the full citation on the other. From this point, all that will be required is alphabetizing the sources used and typing them out in a references list. This is a great time-saving method and will cut a large chunk of time out of whats required to prepare the final draft before submitting your essay.To save even more time with citations, if while youre reading over your sources and you have access to the laptop youll be writing your paper on, go ahead and put the citations in a saved file. Some word processing programs will even put the citation in the correct format based on the citation style you choose. You can also use online resources such as Citation Machine to help with this part of the writing process.#5. Set a daily word count goal while writingAfter establishing a timeline for your academic writing assignment, you should know exactly how many days you have to work on the writing portion. Divide that amount equally by your word count requirement and make sure you reach your word count goal each day you write.For example, if your essay should be four to five pages long, double spaced and not including the citation por tion of your paper, that is approximately 1,200 to 1,500 words (300 words per page of double-spaced writing is a good estimate). If you have a week to research and turn in your assignment, set aside a day for research and gathering sources, a day for outlining and reading over sources, three days to write (with a goal of hitting 500 words a day), a day to have someone proofread and edit, then a day for you to wrap up the final draft.#6. Take breaks away from the screen and booksWhile taking breaks might seem counterproductive to saving time, it isnt. The strain of staring at small text in your source material and the bright light of a screen creates added tension that is best avoided by taking consistent breaks away from your research and writing work. Not doing so can produce headaches, blurry vision, eye strain and trouble sleepingâ€"all of which could potentially affect your ability to work and think clearly the next day.If possible, be sure to take these breaks by going outside and breathing in fresh air. If you cant manage to get outside for a few minutes, other healthy options are meditating, closing your eyes and listening to music, a yoga flow, and holding a plank position for several minutes to reduce stress on the lower back.When writing and researching, be sure to take these breaks by going outside and breathing in fresh air. Photo by Joshua yu on Unsplash.#7. Plan ahead for someone to check your workYou can spend days writing and preparing your academic paper, but a few misspelled words or grammar errors can end up costing you a passing grade on your work. Thats why you dont want to rely on software to check your work for errors.While your word processing program and online programs such as Grammarly might seem like a good option, particularly when youre pressed for time, evidence shows that they fail to catch even simple grammar and spelling errors.If you cant pay a professional editor to edit your work, many universities offer peer editing servic es in computer labs, libraries, or some other convenient spot on campus. Often, these services are free to students, but may require you to schedule an appointment in advance. If this is the option you end up taking, on the day you receive your assignment, be sure to call ahead and find out how to schedule a peer review session of your paper and leave yourself an extra day after that review to make any changes to the rough draft.However, you manage to do it, always have a second pair of eyes look over your writing before you turn it in as a final draft. Sometimes, its easy to miss even the most blatant grammar and spelling errors after focusing on one document for a long time. And no amount of research or preparation will make an essay full of typos an easy A.

E Cigarettes Are Beneficial For Smokers - 892 Words

E-cigarettes are beneficial for smokers and they can be used as alternatives for people who don’t want to quit smoking. Smokers can have same pleasure with less harm. Pearson, J. L., Richardson, A., Niaura, R. S., Vallone, D. M., Abrams, D. B. (2012). E-Cigarette Awareness, Use, and Harm Perceptions in US Adults. American Journal Of Public Health, 102(9), 1758-1766 9p. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2011.300526 PhDs Pearson, J. L., Richardson, A., Niaura, R. S., Vallone, D. M., and Abrams, D. B wrote a journal article on American Journal of Public Health in 2012 and conducted an online survey to find out the awareness of e-cigarettes among people. The result is that most people have heard of e-cigarettes, which are used by millions of smokers. They think e-cigarettes are less harmful than normal cigarettes, but they consume more e-cigarettes with that interpretation. I can use the source to prove that most people are aware of e-cigarettes and young adults are more likely to smoke e-cigarettes. Even though e-cigarettes have less toxic contaminants, they are still harmful to humans’ health. E-cigarettes are better than tobaccos; however, they can still harm one’s health if he or she consumes e-cigarettes too much. The Rise of E-Cigarettes: Harmful or Harm-Reducing?. (2015). RT: The Journal for Respiratory Care Practitioners, 28(6), 16-19 4p. The article written on The Journal for Respiratory Care Practitioners in 2015 introduces that e-cigarettes become more and more popular amongShow MoreRelatedE Cigarettes And The Electronic Cigarette931 Words   |  4 Pagesthe electronic cigarette: a product designed to release aerosol by heating a liquid cartridge containing propylene glycol, glycerol, flavoring additives, and/or nicotine (Grana et al. 6). E-cigarettes use a plastic tube and an electronic heating element to stimulate a liquid cartridge. A nicotine-containing vapor, with few harmful elements, is released from the cartridge and inhaled by the user. (Franck et al. 2). In 2012, a European Commission study on awareness of e-cigarettes concluded that two-thirdsRead MoreThe Legal Considerations For E Cigarettes1638 Words   |  7 Pagesfrom deaths related to cigarette smoking. This costs the public over $300 billion. Have you ever wondered about alternatives to this habit? Have you ever wondered â€Å"what exactly is an e-cigarette?† Where did they originate? Does it pose a threat to health? Yes, we know that it is an alternative to cigarette smoking, but what is the big rave about this small device that has the center of attention for smokers? Today we will expand on the history and the science of e-cigarettes, and understand if thereRead MoreEssay On E-Cigs741 Words   |  3 Pagesside effects of e-cigs, especially to the young people. According to this report, the young people, below 25 years, are the most affected by the harmful effects of e-cigs. According to the report, there has been a large increase in young people who had tried or u se e-cigarettes. The report argued that at least a quarter of the students from grade 6 through to grade 12 had tried e-cigarettes. Also, a third of young adults had tried these products. Impacts of the Surgeon General E-cigs Report TheRead MoreSmoking On College Campuses Should Be Banned1675 Words   |  7 PagesSmoking, as one knows it, has become a stress-reliever worldwide. One will find a smoker pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up around every corner. Smoking has especially become a growing problem in college campuses. When a college student enters the college campus, they do not only enter a new campus, a new life is also entered. In this new experience, one will find themselves exploring new things. The power of the eye is remarkable in today’s society. When someone has a friend that is doingRead MoreShould Tobacco Cigarettes Be Harmful?1018 Words   |  5 Pagesis widely accepted that tobacco cigarettes are linked to cancer and lung disease, which is often a reason why people decide to quit. Due to the addictive nature of nicotine, a component of cigarettes, people have developed products in hopes of combatting this dangerous addiction. Nicotine replacement products come in different form s, such as gum, patches, and electronic cigarettes. While these creations are believed to aid in gaining back independence from cigarette addiction, there is some doubtRead MoreThe Act Of Inhaling Vapor ( Or Vaping )993 Words   |  4 Pagesincreased knowledge of how it harms the body. Tobacco once ruled the world; now in the digital age a new way to inhale smoke has come into being. Electronic Cigarettes, or e-cigs as they are more commonly known, have become very popular in recent years. The act of inhaling vapor (or vaping) has become a social norm; much like smoking a cigarette was just a few years ago. But with an increase in public usage the FDA must make a decision. In an OP-ED written by Sally L. Satel, M.D for the New YorkRead MoreElectronic Cigarettes881 Words   |  4 PagesElectronic Cigarettes; The New, Legal Way to Pollute the Body Over the last 10 years, a new craze has taken effect over the world. Electronic cigarettes or E-Cigs, have become popular among all generations. The question for the reader is simple. Is this alternative form of nicotine dependence healthy, or is society setting itself up for a big health shock in the upcoming years? â€Å"Many anti-smoking advocates have argued that electronic cigarettes don’t help smokers quit butRead MoreElectronic Cigarettes And Cigarette Smoking774 Words   |  4 PagesTobacco cigarette smoking includes various physical associations such as hand and mouth motions, suckling, and taking cigarette breaks (Oh Kacker, 2014). According to Patrounova, 2015, in comparison to other forms of nicotine replacement therapies, Electronic cigarettes satisfy smokers’ needs to fulfill certain smoking rituals. Electronic cigarettes may be able to quench certain urges and cravings due to its design, which can also assist in fulfilling the habitual dependence of smokers (PatrounovaRead MoreUsing Vaporizing Pens Are Becoming A Very Popular Trend Essay1330 Words   |  6 Pagesstill awaiting FDA approval, the electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, is growing popularity among those attempting to quit smoking. Young people are using vaporizing pens as a â€Å"safe al ternative† to smoking. This issue needs to be addressed. Vaping is a lot more convenient than smoking traditional cigarettes. At a push of a button nicotine is being released. There also aren’t any laws or regulations on vapor pens like there are for traditional cigarettes. Vape pens also aren’t being used for justRead MoreThe Addiction Of Tobacco, Nicotine, And Smoking1492 Words   |  6 Pagesquestion what was going on and what was causing these negative reactions in the body. Soon enough, the healthy and â€Å"cool† cigarettes that everyone was smoking became the face of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, birth defects, and many other deadly bodily reactions. In the early 2000’s electronic cigarettes (ECs) were developed by a Chinese pharmacist that hoped to allow smokers to maintain their nicotine addiction, but limit or end the harmful and detrimental effects of tobacco on the body, due

Week 5 Assignment (Project Management) - 978 Words

Introduction to Project Management (Week 5: Assignment) Introduction The project manager of a construction company has developed the following network diagram for her building construction project. After receiving the plans, the manager must coordinate a number of tasks. Key areas she want to focus on, is time and risk. â€Å"Planning is responsible for project Time Management. The Plan process selects a scheduling methodology, tool, sets the format and establishes criteria for developing and controlling the schedule of a project. Rules and approaches for scheduling process are defined by the scheduling methodology†. PMI (2008) She uses the three-point technique â€Å"An analytical technique that uses three estimates to represent three†¦show more content†¦Risk analysis Once the project network analysis has been done it is then very important to review resources and budget availability, especially for the tasks in the critical path. Look at the project constraints, the technical constrain, may need special attention. Assign better resources on the critical path work and identify controls of these tasks. Lag for task B is near-critical activity â€Å"schedule task which has low total slack† PMI (2008), if this task delays by two weeks, the criticality will change to critical path with zero lag, hence a special focus and good control is must. Task C can save the project if completed below the estimated duration it will give an extra slack time to other tasks within critical path task C optimistic duration is 8 weeks. Task A is similar situation as task C, hence it’s wise to focus on these tasks. Reference: Project Management Institute (2008), A Guide to project management body of knowledge (PMBOK Guide)-4th End., Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073-3299 USA Wysocki, RK (2012), Effective Project Management [Electronic Book] Traditional, Agile, Extreme. Robert K. 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Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 33-34 Free Essays

33 RIVERA During the drive to Pine Cove, Rivera was nagged by the idea that he had forgotten something. It wasn’t that he hadn’t reported where he was going; he had planned that. Until he had physical evidence that there was a serial killer in the area, he wasn’t saying a word. We will write a custom essay sample on Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 33-34 or any similar topic only for you Order Now But when he knocked on the Elliotts’ front door and it swung open, he suddenly remembered that his bullet-proof vest was hanging in his locker back at the station. He called into the house and waited for an answer. None came. Only cops and vampires have to have an invitation to enter, he thought. But there is probable cause. The part of his mind that functioned like a district attorney kicked in. â€Å"So, Sergeant Rivera,† the lawyer said, â€Å"you entered a private residence based on a computer data base that could have been no more than a mailing list?† â€Å"I believed that Effrom Elliott’s name on the list represented a clear and present danger to a private citizen, so I entered the residence.† Rivera drew his revolver and held it in his right hand while he held his badge out in his left. â€Å"Mr. and Mrs. Elliott, this is Sergeant Rivera from the Sheriff’s Department. I’m coming in the house.† He moved from room to room announcing his presence before he entered. The bedroom door was closed. He saw the splintered bullet hole in the door and felt his adrenaline surge. Should he call for backup? The D.A. said: â€Å"And so you entered the house on what basis?† Rivera came through the door low and rolled. He lay for a moment on the floor of the empty room, feeling stupid. What now? He couldn’t call in and report a bullet hole in a residence that he had probably entered illegally, especially when he hadn’t reported that he was in Pine Cove in the first place. One step at a time, he told himself. Rivera returned to his unmarked car and reported that he was in Pine Cove. â€Å"Sergeant Rivera,† the dispatcher said, â€Å"there is a message for you from Technical Sergeant Nailsworth. He said to tell you that Robert Masterson is married to the granddaughter of Effrom Elliott. He said he doesn’t know what it means, but he thought you should know.† It meant that he had to find Robert Masterson. He acknowledged the message and signed off. Fifteen minutes later he was at The Breeze’s trailer. The old pickup was gone and no one answered the door. He radioed the station and requested a direct patch to the Spider. â€Å"Nailgun, can you get me Masterson’s wife’s home address? He gave the trailer as residence when we brought him in. And give me the place where she works.† â€Å"Hold on, it’ll be just a second for her address.† Rivera lit a cigarette while he waited. Before he took the second drag, Nailsworth came back with the address and the shortest route from Rivera’s location. â€Å"It will take a little longer for the employer. I have to access the Social Security files.† â€Å"How long?† â€Å"Five, maybe ten minutes.† â€Å"I’m on my way to the house. Maybe I won’t need it.† â€Å"Rivera, there was a fire call at that address this morning. That mean anything to you?† â€Å"Nothing means anything to me anymore, Nailsworth.† Five minutes later Rivera pulled up in front of Jenny’s house. Everything was covered with a gummy gray goo, a mix of ashes, flour, and water from the fire hoses. As Rivera climbed out of the car, Nailsworth called back. â€Å"Jennifer Masterson is currently employed at H.P.’s Cafe, off Cypress in Pine Cove. You want the phone number?† â€Å"No,† Rivera said. â€Å"If she’s not here, I’ll go over there. It’s just a few doors down from my next stop.† â€Å"You need anything else?† Nailsworth sounded as if he was holding something back. â€Å"No,† Rivera said. â€Å"I’ll call if I do.† â€Å"Rivera, don’t forget about that other matter.† â€Å"What matter?† â€Å"Roxanne. Check on her for me.† â€Å"As soon as I can, Nailsworth.† Rivera threw the radio mike onto the passenger seat. As he walked up to the house, he heard someone come on the radio singing a chorus to the song â€Å"Roxanne† in a horrible falsetto. Nailsworth had shown his weakness over an open frequency, and now, Rivera knew, the whole department would ride the fat man’s humiliation into the ground. When this was over, Rivera promised himself, he would concoct a story to vindicate the Spider’s pride. He owed him that. Of course, that depended on Rivera vindicating himself. The walk to the door covered his shoes with gray goo. He waited for an answer and returned to the car, cursing in Spanish, his shoes converted to dough balls. He didn’t get out of the car at H.P.’s Cafe. It was obvious from the darkened windows that no one was inside. His last chance was the Head of the Slug Saloon. If Masterson wasn’t there, he was out of leads, and he would have to report what he knew, or, what was more embarrassing, what he didn’t know, to the captain. Rivera found a parking place in front of the Slug behind Robert’s truck, and after taking a few minutes to get his right shoe unstuck from the gas pedal, he went in. 34 U-PICK-EM The Pagan Vegetarians for Peace called them the Sacred Caves because they believed that the caves had once been used by Ohlone Indians for religious ceremonies. This, in fact, was not true, for the Ohlone had avoided the caves as much as possible due to the huge population of bats that lived there, bats that were inextricably locked into the destiny of the caves. The first human occupation of the caves came in the 1960s, when a down-and-out farmer named Homer Styles decided to use the damp interior of the caves to cultivate mushrooms. Homer started his business with five hundred wooden crates of the sort used for carting soda bottles, and a half-gallon carton of mail-order mushroom spores; total investment: sixteen dollars. Homer had stolen the crates from behind the Thrifty-Mart, a few at a time, over the period of weeks that it took him to read the pamphlet Fungus for Fun and Profit, put out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. After filling the crates with moist peat and laying them out on the cave floor, Homer spread his spores and waited for the money to roll in. What Homer didn’t figure on was the rapid growth rate of the mushrooms (he’d skipped that part of the pamphlet), and within days he found himself sitting in a cave full of mushrooms with no market and no money to pay for help in harvesting. The solution to Homer’s problem came from another government pamphlet entitled The Consumer-Harvested Farm, which had come, by mistake, in the same envelope with Fungus for Fun. Homer took his last ten dollars and placed an ad in the local paper: Mushrooms, $.50 lb. U-PICK-EM, your container. Old Creek Road. 9?C5 daily. Mushroom-hungry Pine Covers came in droves. As fast as the mushrooms were harvested, they grew back, and the money rolled in. Homer spent his first profits on a generator and a string of lights for the caves, figuring that by extending his business hours into the evening, his profits would grow in proportion. It would have been a sound business move had the bats not decided to rear their furry heads in protest. During the day the bats had been content to hang out on the roof of the cave while Homer ran his business below. But on the first night of Homer’s extended hours when the bats woke to find their home invaded by harshly lit mushroom pickers, their tolerance ended. There were twenty customers in the caves when the lights went on. In an instant the air above them was a maelstrom of screeching, furry, flying rodents. In the rush to exit, one woman fell and broke a hip and another was bitten on the hand while extracting a bat from her hair. The cloud of bats soon disappeared into the night, only to be replaced the next day by an equally dense cloud of landbound vermin: personal-injury lawyers. The varmints prevailed in court. Homer’s business was destroyed, and once again the bats slept in peace. A depressed Homer Styles went on a binge in the Head of the Slug. He spent four days in an Irish whiskey haze before his money ran out and Mavis Sand sent him to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. (Mavis could tell when a man had hit bottom, and she felt no need to pump a dry well.) Homer found himself in the meeting room of the First National Bank, telling his story. It happened that at that same meeting a young surfer who called himself The Breeze was working off a court-ordered sentence he had earned by drunkenly crashing a ’62 Volkswagen into a police cruiser and promptly puking on the arresting officer’s shoes. The farmer’s story touched off an entrepreneurial spark in the surfer, and after the meeting The Breeze cornered Homer with a proposition. â€Å"Homer, how would you like to make some heavy bread growing magic mushrooms?† The next day the farmer and the surfer were hauling bags of manure into the caves, spreading it over the peat, and scattering a completely different type of spore. According to The Breeze their crop would sell for ten to twenty dollars an ounce instead of the fifty cents a pound that Homer received for his last crop. Homer was enraptured with the possibility of becoming rich. And he would have, if not for the bats. As the day of their first harvest neared, The Breeze had to take his leave of their plantation to serve the weekend in the county jail (the first of fifty – the judge had not been amused at having barf-covered police shoes presented as evidence in his courtroom). Before he left, The Breeze assured Homer that he would return Monday to help with the drying and marketing of the mushrooms. In the meantime, the woman who had been bitten during the debacle of the bats, came down with rabies. County animal-control agents were ordered to the caves to destroy the bat colony. When the agents arrived, they found Homer Styles crouched over a tray of psychedelic mushrooms. The agents offered Homer the option of walking away and leaving the mushrooms, but Homer refused, so they radioed the sheriff. Homer was led away in handcuffs, the animal-control agents left with their pockets filled with mushrooms, and the bats were left alone. When The Breeze was released on Monday, he found himself in search of a new scam. A few months later, while incarcerated at the state prison in Lompoc, Homer Styles received a letter from The Breeze. The letter was covered with a fine yellow powder and read: â€Å"Sorry about your bust. Hope we can bury the hatchet.† Homer buried the letter in a shoe box he kept under his bunk and spent the next ten years living in relative luxury on the profits he made from selling psychedelic mushrooms to the other inmates. Homer sampled his crop only once, then swore off mushrooms for life when he hallucinated that he was drowning in a sea of bats. How to cite Practical Demonkeeping Chapter 33-34, Essay examples

Infosys and Corporate Social Responsibility in India Essay Example

Infosys and Corporate Social Responsibility in India Essay Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined as a businesss policy to encourage positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities and all other member of the public who may be considered its stakeholders. [8] Analysis The Infosys Foundation The Infosys Foundation was established in the year 1996 with the goal of serving the under-privileged sections of the society The focus areas of the foundation are: We will write a custom essay sample on Infosys and Corporate Social Responsibility in India specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Infosys and Corporate Social Responsibility in India specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Infosys and Corporate Social Responsibility in India specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Learning and education in 2007, the foundation embarked on the Library for Every Rural School program to get people to donate books in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, and Kerala. It has since set up 35,000 school libraries, the largest rural education program in India. Healthcare Since its inception in 1996, the foundation has constructed hospital wards, donated medicines and advanced medical equipment to hospitals, and organized health camps in remote areas, all in order to get the under-privileged access to modern medical practices. Arts Culture The Infosys Foundation sustains and preserves several art forms that are unique to our country and form a part of our heritage. Over the years it has sponsored art and music shows by rural artists, sponsored documentaries on Indian culture and published books that delineate the roots of art in Karnataka. Social Rehabilitation and Rural Uplift The foundation works for the welfare of destitute women and children and also helps towards developing rural India by providing education and vocational skills. It has built orphanages where education is prioritized and organized training centres for destitute women in and around Karnataka. Assessment There are a number of observations to be made from the above. Firstly, Infosys is seen to be engaged in various, unconnected welfare activities. Though laudable, this may not be the best policy to adopt towards CSR because many of these have little or no relevance to its core business ability. Thus, there is a chance that it may drop them in the future if aspects of the activities start to clash with their normal business working. This will damage the entire premise of sustainability that the company promotes about its CSR. The extremely local nature of these activities (most are based in and around Karnataka) show that Infosys is perhaps trying to build a good relationship at home where it wants to address as many problems as possible. However, scaling up of these activities will be the real test of its CSR practices because being a global company it cannot afford to limit its welfare activities to only one region. This may raise questions about their sincerity as their efforts may be construed as simply trying to appease the authorities at home and maybe get benefits over its competition. In the next section we will see that in matters in which it has expertise, Infosys has already expanded its activities to the global level. Sustainable Social Change Infosys makes the proud claim of influencing sustainable social change through its varied development initiatives. [1] The following are some of these initiatives: Education and Intellectual Capability It is no secret that India is engineering-mad with Indian Engineering Institutions churning out over 500,000 science and engineering graduates every year. However, even as rival IT companies and a host of other recruiters vie with Infosys over the recruitment of the fresh, inexpensive engineering talent, there is little that these corporates have done to aid in the recognition and reward of top Indian research. This is a matter of pressing concern because not only does this hamper the intellectual capital of our country in relation to competition from overseas (Even China has more PhDs per capita than India) but it promotes a lack of systematic learning that ultimately results in making a lot of these graduates unfit for immediate industrial employment. It is here that Infosys has once again differentiated itself from the competition by undertaking ventures that promote science and engineering education as more than simply a means of landing a job. The Infosys Science Foundation (ISF) was set up with the goal of achieving the above. It was set up by some of the companys founder members in February 2009 with the aim to elevate the prestige of scientific research in India and inspire young Indians to choose a vocation in scientific research. The ISF honours outstanding contributions and achievements by Indians in various streams of science with the Infosys Prize in five categories: mathematical sciences, physical sciences, engineering and computer sciences, life sciences and social sciences. The award is given to Indian scientists below the age of 50. The Foundation is funded by an amount of Rs. 215,000,000 contributed by the members of the Infosys Board and an annual grant from Infosys Tech. Ltd. The annual award in each category amounts to Rs. 5,000,000. The importance of this award is highlighted by the names of its past winners and their achievements, for e.g. last year the award for Life Sciences went to Dr. Chetan Chitnis for having discovered the first viable malaria vaccine and the award for Engineering Sciences went to Prof. Ashutosh Sharma for his applications in energy storage. Along similar lines is the ACM Infosys Foundation Award in Computer Sciences, established in August 2007 and carrying a cash award of USD 150,000 provided by the Infosys Foundation Endowment. It aims to reward educators and researchers whose work in software systems foster innovations that address existing challenges in the domain. Assessment Unlike a number of Indian companies whose education related welfare activities focus primarily on issues of primary/basic education, Infosys initiatives are unique in that they are associated exclusively with the domain of higher technical education, a segment in which it is arguably the most respected company in the country. This allows it to create perfect synergy between its everyday business activities and its investments in the above initiatives because unlike a lot of other companies who get into CSR without doing their homework and as a result get accused of doing it for ulterior motives, Infosys engagement with the field of technical education is a natural extension of its business practices. Its approach in this direction must also be lauded. While Narayana Murty has been accused in the past of favouring foreign universities when it came to giving grants, his decision of having Infosys establish the above awards is a godsend for the research establishment in India because though grants may be siphoned off by agencies without the threat of accountability, awarding individuals for their excellence is more effective as it provides a greater encouragement for others to follow in their shoes. But Infosys has not completely ignored the primary and secondary education sectors either. It has just approached it in a different way and yet received accolades all the same. A case in point is the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which was founded in 2000 and has three senior Infosys members apart from numerous Infosys volunteers who work towards providing free midday meals to schoolchildren. The foundations functions in partnership with state and central governments and currently serves over 1.3 million students in 7699 schools across India. Its impact is easy to assess from third party recognitions: it was awarded an International Fellowship by the US Congressional Hunger Centre, it received the 2008 CNBC India Business Leader of the Year Award and it even made it to the MBA curriculum as a case study at the Harvard School of Business in 2007. Similarly, Infosys BPOs work on Project Genesis, under which it works to improve the written and spoken communication capabilities in addition to the analytical skills of students in Tier 2 and 3 towns of the country so that they become employable, was awarded as the best CSR initiative at the 8th National Outsourcing Association (NOA) Awards 2011, in London. It was especially lauded for making sure that no expense was incurred by the participating academicians in the program. Community Development Unlike the education schemes already mentioned, community development initiatives do not at first seem the best fit with the companys existing activities. However, Infosys has done its share of work in this domain too and while most of it has been in the vicinity of its offices, there are projects like the Flood Relief Project for the victims of northern Karnataka in which the company has participated quite actively. Only last year the first phase of their initiative to construct 2250 houses across 18 villages was completed and subsequently these houses were handed over to the villagers. Assessment This aspect of Infosys CSR efforts can also be criticized for not matching with the core business abilities of the organization. The question to be asked is whether Infosys could have done a better job as simply a service consultant (a domain in which it already has expertise) to a third-party organization and have the latter handle the actual on-ground developmental work. Also, nearly all of Infosys developmental work has come in the neighbourhood of Karnataka. The scalability of this work can be called into question much like in the case of the Infosys Foundation. Regionalized developmental work can always raise questions about its sincerity, i.e. whether they are simply means to appease the local public/authorities. Infosys Eco Group Plans and Implementation Infosys has been considering the worsening impact of businesses on the environment for several years and has understood the importance of a clean environment and energy efficient solutions. It has hence committed itself to come up with innovations which positively impact the environment and can lead to large energy savings. Many of these have been implemented at Infosys itself. Under this initiative of Green Innovation, Infosys has not only come with a number of ideas but has also implemented some of them in tangible forms: iSustain: Carbon energy and resource management tool that helps the user to generate and monitor the use of various resources such as energy and water etc. being used, take majors to allot them efficiently and also monitor the carbon footprint. InGreen Energy Management: A tool used by Infosys to monitor the energy consumption at micro level and to take majors to cut on unnecessary usage. Using this, Infosys has been successfully reducing its carbon emission at a rate of more than 5% per annum. InGreen Personal Carbon Calculator: A tool that helps the user organizations to assess their impact on ecological systems in terms of carbon emission. Smart Integrator for Smart Grid: A device that continuously monitors the power usage of various devices in the range using a sensor and controls them accordingly. Infosys also plans to become carbon neutral and shift to entirely renewable energy by 2017. The steps taken for the same seem to be promising which include building of renewable energy power generation plants (recently they have built a solar energy plant at Jaipur Campus) and aiming for a platinum rating, the highest rating given by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for environment friendly architecture. In January 2012, the third building at the Mysore Campus achieved this rating. Besides these, Infosys has been taking small but effective measures to reduce its own energy consumption, such as building designs with maximum exposure to natural light, design of windows which could lead to reduction in room temperature thus saving on air conditioning consumption of energy, increasing use of green power and use of recycled water. (Refer Exhibit 1) Assessment In year 2011, Infosys has saved more than 4 lakh units of conventional energy units through the use of the renewable energy sources. Not only has this helped in energy conservation but it has also resulted in savings of Rs. 20 Crore for the organization. In a similar way, innovative ideas such as smart integrator, rooms having maximum exposure to day light, optimum room temperature maintenance measures and use of LED and CFL tubes in place of conventional ones saved more than 7 lakh units of electricity, accounting for monetary benefit of Rs. 35 lakhs. In addition to these, Infosys is working closely with the Karnataka Government and Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) for implementation of renewable energy power plants. It has been successful in convincing KERC to remove the cross-subsidy on renewable energy thus reducing its cost. Moreover as a result of these efforts, KERC has made it compulsory for the power utilities in Karnataka to buy at least 0.25% of total energy in form of solar energy, which will cost the end users only 4 paise more than regular rate per unit. Though listed under the CSR activities and initiated as Green Innovations, the activities mentioned above are not only intended to improve the environmental conditions as a social need but are also aimed at a reduction in Infosys energy consumption thereby giving it a competitive advantage as it can sell these innovative solutions to its clients as well. It is these latter observations that have been points of concern for critics who blame Infosys of hyping its energy savings and accuse it of Greenwashing. [18] Employee-Driven CSR Employees at Infosys are given ample opportunities to contribute to the society. This way of engaging employees to have hands on experience on CSR can also help the society, which needs responsible citizens to contribute man hours. The policy also helps these employees to attain their personal aspirations of serving the society. This sabbatical policy was initiated in the year 2008, where all the employees are encouraged to work through Infosys Foundation to support the needs of the society. The company as an entity is greatly supportive of its employees in executing the initiatives. The employees are made to pledge that they will make a difference to the society on a consistent basis. For effective execution, the company has individual divisions which run independent of each other under major themes like Health, Art, Education, Rural welfare and Rehabilitation and Targeted inclusive growth. A governance framework has also been put in place to streamline and implement the employee driven CSR initiatives in order to provide operational efficiencies and financial transparency.